The Consumer Audience

CHAPTER

5

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Chapter Outline

I. How Does Consumer Behavior Work?

II. Cultural and Social Influences on Consumer Decisions

III. Psychological Influences that Motivate Consumers

IV. Behavioral Influences on Consumer Decisions

V. The Consumer Decision Process

VI. Segmenting and Targeting

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How Does Consumer Behavior Work?

• Consumer behavior

– Describes how individuals or groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products – as well as describing the needs that motivate these behaviors

• Influences on Consumer Decision Making (figure 5.1, p. 127)

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Cultural and Social Influences

Culture

Tangible items and intangible concepts that together define a group of people or a way of life

Social Class

The position a person and his/her family hold within society

Reference Groups

A group of people who are used as a guide for behavior in specific situations

Family

Two or more people who are related by blood, marriage, or adoption and live in the same household

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Cultural and Social Influences

Demographics

• The statistical, personal, social, and economic characteristics that describe a population

Characteristics• Age• Sexual

orientation• Race and

ethnicity• Occupation• Income• Geography

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Psychological Influences

Perception/State of Mind

• Affects how people perceive information as well as determines the particular pattern of consumer behavior

Motivations

• Internal forces that stimulate people to behave in a particular manner

• Produced by the tension caused by an unfulfilled need

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Levels of Needs in the Maslow Hierarchy

Figure 5.4 (p. 138)

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Psychological Influences

Attitudes and Values

• Attitudes impact motivations

• Influence how consumers evaluate products, institutions, retail stores, and advertising

Personality

• Distinctive characteristics that make people or brands individual

• Brand personalities make them distinctive from their competitors

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Psychological Influences

Psychographic Influences

• Lifestyle and psychological characteristics that have a bearing on how people make decisions

Psychographics

• Lifestyles

– Looks at the ways people allocate time, energy, and money

• The VALS system

– Lifestyle profiles that collectively reflect a whole culture

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• An example is SRI International’s Values and Lifestyle System (VALS).

• VALS 2 arranges groups by resources and self-orientation (principle, status, or action oriented)

Combining All the Personal Factors: Psychographics

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Behavioral Influences

• Usage behavior– How much of a product category or brand

customers buy.

• Innovation and adoption– How willing people are to be innovative

and try something new

• Consumer Categories based on Product Usage (Table 5.4, p. 144)

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The Decision Processes

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Segmenting and Targeting

• Segmenting

– Dividing the market into groups of people who have similar characteristics in certain key product-related areas

– Figure 5.9 (p. 149)

– Sociodemographic segments: age + lifestyle differences

– Niche markets

• Narrowly defined group by some distinctive trait

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Segmenting and Targeting

• Market segmentation Strategy– Assumes that the best way to sell is to recognize

differences within the broad market and adjust strategies and messages accordingly

• Market aggregation strategy– When planners purposefully use one marketing

strategy that will appeal to as many audiences as possible

• Targeting– Identifying the group that might be the most

profitable audience